NEWSLETTER DEPARTMENT OF RHETORIC, WRITING, AND COMMUNICATIONS Fall 2017 VOL. 2 NO. 1

Representations of Indigeneity Class: Making bannock at Feast Cafe Bistro

Photo courtesy of Helen Lepp-Friesen

NEWS/UPDATES U of W will offer new Writing Program [From the Winnipeg Free Press] The University of Winnipeg recently announced a new writing certificate aimed to help students improve their writing skills in a variety of areas, including technical writing as well as creative.

Associate professor in the department of Rhetoric, Writing and Communications Jennifer Clary-Lemon helped design the certificate, which is 30 credit hours.

“It’s like a degree or diploma, so you graduate with a certificate in writing,” Clary-Lemon said.

“The idea is that students would gain additional knowledge in different genres: revision practice, editing and style, and by attending to those different genres, they would get a chance to develop some expertise in a variety of types of writing, so both academic and non-academic.”

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The course is meant for students already attending the U of W, who know they would like to develop their writing skills, but it’s also meant to cater to those who are already working and may not have had the opportunity to focus on writing during their degree. [Read more at: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/metro/U-of-W-will-offer-new-writing-program-442778843.html] Communicating Climate Change – a unique opportunity [From the UW News Centre] Finding practical ways to tackle and talk about climate change is keeping three students busy this winter and spring. Caitlin McVicker, Maureen Hanlon and Avery Letkemann are interning with The City of Winnipeg’s Climate Action Stakeholder Group which is helping to develop a city-wide climate action plan.

For Caitlin, who is studying business and rhetoric, the internship “is changing my perspective about how I read about climate change on-line and in the news. I am discovering that fear and guilt don’t motivate people. People need to see their neighbours making changes and that is what influences us most to change our behaviours.”

This unique learning opportunity is an interdisciplinary collaboration between two academic departments: Chemistry (faculty member, Dr. Devin Latimer) and Rhetoric, Writing and Communications (associate professor, Dr. Jennifer Clary-Lemon).

“This internship gives the students a view of how the city operates and what is realistic. It also offers them an integrated perspective and shows that the humanities and science can sit at the same table and find common ground,” says Clary-Lemon. “Students are the most creative amongst us. They can think of possibilities that perhaps academics and bureaucrats might not see, and be a link between power points and genuine public engagement.” [Read more at: http://news-centre.uwinnipeg.ca/all-posts/communicating-climate-change-a-unique-internship/] Welcome, Tari!

[From the UW News Centre] Tari Muvingi is a UWinnipeg alumna and holds a BSc in Environmental Studies. Her career at the U of W began in 2008 working in administration and program support. She now finds herself at home in the Department of Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications, where she loves working and interacting with the great staff, faculty and students, and learning more from them about rhetoric and communication – two of her personal interest areas. https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/arts/news/2017/12/intro

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Goodbye Party for Cathleen

Photo courtesy of Catherine Taylor

It’s a boy! The Department sends big congratulations to Premika Perera on the birth of her lovely baby boy!

EVENTS Rooted in Rhetoric volume 2 (2017) launch, The Hive, September 14, 2017

Photo courtesy of Andrew McGillivray and Helen Lepp-Friesen

Rooted in Rhetoric volume 2 was edited by Dylan Jones, Charlotte Morin, Sarah Vaage, and Chelsey Young. Writers who contributed to the volume are Janelle

We would like to send a hearty thank you, a fond farewell, and best wishes of good luck to Cathleen Hjalmarson on her retirement! So long, Cathleen! We’ll miss you!

Rooted in Rhetoric is a journal of student writing that is designed and edited by students from the Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications department and features writing by students who have taken courses with the department. This year’s launch marks the arrival of the second volume.

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Carriere, Tyler Langevin, Alexander Nanton, Sarah Vaage, Sarah Victor Dit Vouillon, Maria Josellee Dabalos, Laura Loconte, Charlotte Morin, Jonathan Henderson, Shanae Blaquiere, Jade Olivia Chapman, Roger McDonald-Colombe, Colleen Coulter, Bethany Fontaine, Jordan Mason, Yolanda Thompson, Dylan Jones, Caitlyn A. Gowriluck, and Evan Joseph Keith Lilley. The volume’s editors hosted the launch and several contributors read from their pieces. The evening was enjoyable for everyone, and it was great to celebrate exciting student writing. PUBLICATIONS

~ Book Chapters

Christopher Crocker, “Emotions.” In Ármann Jakobsson and Sverrir Jakobsson, Eds., The Routledge Research Companion to the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (New York and London: Routledge, 2017), pp. 240–52.

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Journal Articles Matthew Flisfeder, “Morality or Enjoyment?: On Althusser’s Ideological Supplement of the Law.” Mediations 30.2 (2017): 37-44.

Matthew Flisfeder and Clint Burnham, “Love and Sex in the Age of Capitalist Realism: On Spike Jonze’s Her (2013).” Cinema Journal 57.1 (2017): 25-45. Andrew McGillivray, “Gender and Subversion in Icelandic Legend and Saga,” Roda da Fortuna - Electronic Journal about Antiquity and the Middle Ages 6.1 (2017): 99–118. https://www.revistarodadafortuna.com/. Adam Lauder and Jaqueline McLeod Rogers, “McLuhan and the Arts After the Speculative Turn.” Imaginations 8.3 (2017): http://dx.doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE.MA.8.3.1

~ Op-Eds/Non-Peer Reviewed Articles

Matthew Flisfeder, “Beyond Heaven and Hell – This World Is All We’ve Got: Blade Runner 2049 in Perspective.” Red Wedge Magazine. October 25th, 2017. http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/online-issue/beyond-heaven-and-hell-this-world-is-all-weve-got-blade-runner-2049-in-perspective.

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Matthew Flisfeder, “Oculus and our troubles with (virtual) reality.” The Conversation. November 13th, 2017. https://theconversation.com/oculus-and-our-troubles-with-virtual-reality-87305. (Republished in the National Post on November 14th, 2017, and SciFi Generation on November 14th, 2017). Matthew Flisfeder and Clint Burnham, “End of Sex? End of Cinema? Afterthoughts on Her.” Afterthoughts and Postscripts – Cinema Journal. November 22nd, 2017. http://www.cmstudies.org/?page=CJ_after571_FlisBurn. Jason Hannan, “Trolling Ourselves to Death in the Age of Trump,” The Conversation, July 19th, 2017. https://theconversation.com/trolling-ourselves-to-death-in-the-age-of-trump-80524 (Republished in The National Post, Salon, and MacLean’s)

~ Presentations

Christopher Crocker, “Feminine autonomy and sadistic male desire in the Eddic poem Skírnismál.” Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study Annual Meeting. Minneapolis, MN. May 11–13, 2017. Christopher Crocker, “Once more, with fiction: On the interpretive value of modern retellings of medieval Nordic myth.” Canadian Society of Medievalists 2017. Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Ryerson University. Toronto, ON. May 27–29, 2017. Christopher Crocker, “What we talk about when we talk about Vínland.” Association for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in Canada 2017. Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Ryerson University. Toronto, ON. May 28–31, 2017. Matthew Flisfeder, “Algorithms and Ideology: Parallax Encounters in Smart Technologies.” Paper presented at LACK II: Psychoanalysis and Politics NOW. Colorado College. Colorado Springs, CO. October 21st, 2017. Matthew Flisfeder. “A Year in the ‘Upside Down’: Truth, ‘Objectivity,’ and the Rhetoric of ‘Both Sides’.” Invited talk at the University of Winnipeg. November 8th, 2017. Jason Hannan, “Dual Power and the Digital Left.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association. Dallas, TX. November 18th, 2017. Jason Hannan, “Trolling Ourselves to Death.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association. Dallas, TX. November 17, 2017.

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Jason Hannan, “Social Media, Fake News and Donald Trump’s Communication Style.” Presented at University Women’s Club of Winnipeg. Winnipeg, MB. October 24th, 2017. Jason Hannan, “The Proliferation of Lies: Media in the Post-Truth Political Era.” Invited presentation at Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, Bonn, Germany, June 19, 2017. Mary Ann Loewen, “The Personal is Still Political: The Ethics of Life Writing.” paper presented at “Crossing the Line: Women of Anabaptist Traditions Encounter Borders and Boundaries, an international conference. Eastern Mennonite University. Harrisonburg, VA. June 23rd, 2017. Mary Ann Loewen, “Cross-gendered Narratives of Place.” Paper presented at Personal Narratives of Place and Displacement – Mennonites Writing VIII, a North American conference. University of Winnipeg. Winnipeg, MB. October 20th, 2017. Andrew McGillivray, “Talking to Death in Alvíssmál,” 52nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI. May 11th, 2017. Andrew McGillivray, “Gimli, MB: Cultural Rebirth and Evolution in a Canadian Context,” Rethinking Scandinavia Conference, Centre for Scandinavian Studies Copenhagen-Lund. Lund, Sweden. June 15th, 2017. Jaqueline McLeod Rogers, “McLuhan’s City: Magic and Movement.” Presented at the Colloque international/International Colloquium: Rencontre imaginaires, imaginaires transculturels au Canada et dans les Amériques – Litérature et art du 19e au 21e siècle. University of Manitoba. Winnipeg, MB. September 29th, 2017. Jaqueline McLeod Rogers, “McLuhan’s City as Socio-Techno Assemblage.” Presented at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association. Dallas, TX. November 18th, 2017. Jaqueline McLeod Rogers, “Toronto as ‘Canada’s Downtown: Civic Swagger.’” Presented at Connecting Canada. York University. Toronto, ON. December 7th, 2017. Joanne Struch, “Representing knowledges: Cognitive (in)justices as a lens for examining academic writing practice and pedagogy.” Paper presented at the Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing Conference. Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, Ryerson University. Toronto, ON. May 2017.

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Joanne Struch, “Understanding intersections among language, student perceptions, and considerations of justice in feedback on second language academic writing through critical discourse analysis.” Paper presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education Conference. Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, Ryerson University. Toronto, ON. May 2017. A. Phillipson and Joanne Struch, “Cognitive (in)justice: How writing assignments can disadvantage students from varied academic contexts and how you can help.” Presented at Teaching Development Day: Diversity and Inclusion in Queen’s learning Environments. Queen’s University. Kingston, Ontario. September 2017.

~ Reviews

Matthew Flisfeder, Review of David W. Hill, The Pathology of Communicative Capitalism. Information, Communication, and Society. DOI 10.1080/1369118X.2017.1398268 Published online November 5th, 2017.

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Interviews

Matthew Flisfeder interviewed by Jordy Cummings and Joe Sabatini. “‘Quite an Experience…’ Blade Runner, Marxism, and Postmodernity.”. Red Wedge Magazine. September 2nd. http://www.redwedgemagazine.com/online-issue/blade-runner-marxism-and-postmodernity.

~ Awards/Grants

Matthew Flisfeder, Principal Investigator, “Data Determinism: Social Media Platforms and the Representation of Neoliberal Ideology.” Major Research Grant, University of Winnipeg.

Joanne Struch, University of Manitoba CSSH Travelling Scholarship. To travel to Toronto to attend the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities.